A 70-year-old man has been charged with murder after an altercation with landscapers in Southern California this week turned deadly, according to authorities and the property owner.
Michael Anthony Burke was being held without bail in Vista County in San Diego County on Friday in connection with the death of Martin Lucas Esteban, according to jail records and a criminal complaint.
Esteban, an immigrant from Guatemala, had been working in Fallbrook, a community about 100 miles southeast of Los Angeles, before Monday’s shooting, according to Alan Hsu, the owner of the property.
The shooting occurred around 8:00 a.m. following an argument, the San Diego County Sheriff’s Office said. One man died and the second man was treated for a gunshot wound and has since been released from the hospital, the report said.
Burke has been charged with murder, attempted murder, and shooting into an occupied vehicle, according to the criminal complaint. Each charge carries a recommended sentence of 25 years to life in prison, if convicted, the filings said.
He pleaded not guilty Thursday, according to documents obtained by NBC San Diego.
It is not clear if Burke has retained an attorney. The local public defender’s office did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Cell phone video of the incident appears to show a man holding a gun standing next to a van.
The video, confirmed by NBC News, does not detail the entire exchange, nor does it appear to show what preceded the altercation between the man with the gun and the two inside the van.
In this video, a man with a gun can be heard threatening the men in the truck.
“I have mucho friends in the police, traffic wardens. Okay. Do you want to die today?” said the man. Someone can be heard asking him what he said.
“You want to die today? I’m going to kill you right now. Don’t me— me. Okay? Are you scared? Do you speak Español or Inglés?” the man with the gun says, using the Spanish word for “know.”
After that, the man with the gun points inside the truck and the passenger grabs its barrel, the video shows. A struggle ensues, a gunshot is fired, and the man with the weapon finally says, “You see, you —-d around,” according to the video.
San Diego County Sheriff’s Lieutenant Juan Marquez said investigators are aware of the video and prosecutors have reviewed it.
“The Sheriff’s Homicide Unit is conducting a thorough and thorough investigation into this matter,” he said via email.
Hsu, the owner of the renovated, rental property, said Burke is the caretaker of the neighborhood and always passes.
He described the suspect as having an “angry character”.
“He wasn’t the friendliest person in the world,” Hsu said.
The daughter of the deceased, Martina Lucas, said that her father was invited to this place to help his friend by preparing the fields, which Hsu confirmed. He said that Martin Lucas had worked in this area before.
Martina Lucas said her father was a good father.
“That man didn’t have the heart to kill him,” he said outside the suspect’s arraignment Thursday, according to NBC San Diego. “My father did not deserve to die.”
